Sweet Pea Tendril Salad

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Our local farmers markets are packed of wonderful produce this time of the year. This week I bought sweet corn, super sweet orange cherry tomatoes, peppers, beets, cantaloupe, and peaches. I can't help it. When I get to the farmers market I just go a little crazy and want to buy some of everything. This week I also found pea tendrils, also called pea shoots, from one of our local farmers. Pea tendrils are the are the young leaves and shoots of the pea plant. If you've never tried pea tendrils, they are delicious. I think they taste like fresh peas crossed with spinach. You can use them in  much the same way as you would use spinach. They can be sauteed, tossed into pasta, or eaten raw in a salad.
I used the pea tendrils and several of my farmers market purchases, along with some grilled shrimp I had leftover from the night before, to make this delicious salad. I used only pea tendrils for this salad but if you like, you could also mix the pea tendrils with other salad greens.

Sweet Pea Tendril Salad with Grilled Shrimp and Corn
Serves 2 as a main course or 4 as a side salad
(printable recipe)
For the salad:
2 cups tender sweet pea tendrils or a mixture of lettuces and pea tendrils
A handful of fresh cherry tomatoes, I used tiny sweet orange tomatoes
Salt and pepper, to taste

For the corn:
2-3 ears of fresh sweet corn cut from the cob
1 Tbs. unsalted butter
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. curry powder (optional)
freshly ground black pepper

Remove the husks and the silk from the corn and cut the kernels off as close to the cob as possible without cutting into the cob. Melt the butter in a large, heavy saute pan. Add the corn, salt, pepper and curry powder, if using. Saute uncovered on medium-low heat for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the corn is cooked through. Season with salt and pepper.

Lemon Vinaigrette

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3/4 teaspoon minced fresh garlic
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
freshly cracked black pepper

Gently stir the ingredients together, do not emulsify.

I used this recipe for Margarita Grilled Shrimp. I made the shrimp the night before and had it leftover. I put them on the salad cold but they would be great right off the grill on top of this salad. (If don't want to go to the trouble of grilling the shrimp, you could substitute steamed shrimp.)

Place pea tendrils in a serving bowl or divide onto individual plates. Add the tomatoes and sauteed corn and grilled shrimp and drizzle the lemon vinaigrette over the salad.

Shop at the farmers market! You not only support your local growers but you also get to eat some really tasty food.

Fresh sweet corn salad

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I've had corn coming out my ears this week. Okay that's a little corny... (Sorry I couldn't help myself!) We have had a lot of corn around here. The first of the sweet corn in our area is ripe for the picking. Over the week-end I got 3 cases of really nice sweet corn. My mom and I decided to put up some corn this year. This is something she always did when I was growing up. It was a family event, all the kids helped out. I always dreaded corn freezing day. It meant spending all day husking corn, outside, hot, with sticky hands. She'd get several hundred ears of corn and we'd all spend a whole day working to get it put in the freezer. As a child I never thought I'd actually want to freeze corn.
Now that I'm an adult I find myself looking forward to getting that wonderful sweet corn and preserving it for later. So mom and I put up 33 quarts of corn on Saturday. Now Dad does all the husking. Yeah! That's the part I still don't like to do.
We didn't freeze all the corn however. I kept out several ears to eat fresh. We had some plain old corn on the cob. One of my favorite things but I wanted to do something a little more creative with some of the corn. I decided on making a corn salad. Really fresh seasonal ingredients are the key to this salad. I made it to accompany grilled chicken and we loved it so much I made it again to go with our burgers the next night.

Fresh Sweet Corn Salad
(Print Recipe)

Ingredients nocoup

5 ears of corn, husked
1/2 cup small-diced red onion
1/2 cup of chopped tomato (one medium tomato)
1/2 cup feta cheese, diced or crumbled
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
3 tablespoons good olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Large handful of fresh basil leaves, julienned

Directions

In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the corn for 3 minutes until the starchiness is just gone. Drain and immerse it in ice water to stop the cooking and to set the color. When the corn is cool, cut the kernels off the cob, cutting close to the cob.

Toss the kernels in a large bowl with the red onions, tomato, feta, vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Just before serving, toss in the fresh basil. Taste for seasonings and serve cold or at room temperature.

I used an heirloom tomato from my parents farm but any really ripe fresh tomato will be fine.

For step-bystep instructions on how to freeze corn, visit our Waterberry Farm blog

Marinated Cucumber, Tomato, Kidney Bean Salad

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This is just a quick post to share one of my favorite salads. Life has been a little hectic lately. I've been swimming in a sea of cupcakes. I've lost count this week but I'm somewhere in the 24 dozen range. That's a lot of frosting! I've been happy for the work because time has flown by and hopefully *fingers crossed* Hubs will coming home from Iraq in a week! I can't believe he's finally coming home! Then we're off to visit family and friends. Maybe by the end of the month life will return to somewhat normal...I hope!
Anyway other than cupcakes, I haven't had time to bake or cook much of anything. I did have time, however, to throw together one of my favorite salads. I love this salad because it has a great balance of sweet and sour tossed with some of my favorite veggies. Cucumbers, tomatoes, red onion, and kidney beans marinated in red wine and oil. Simple but very delicious. I love it will grilled chicken or fish. This is really more of a guide than a recipe, add as much or little of any of the ingredients to suit your tastes.

Marinated Cucumber, Tomato, Kidney Bean Salad
1 medium cucumber, thinly sliced
1 large ripe tomato, thinly sliced
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
1 14 oz can of kidney beans, drained
3 Tbl red wine vinegar
1 Tbl sugar
3-4 Tbl canola oil or any light oil
salt and pepper to taste
Put first 4 ingredients in a medium bowl. In a small bowl mix together the red wine vinegar, sugar, oil salt and pepper. Pour over the veggies. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. This salad tastes better the longer it sits. If you can, make it and let it sit overnight. This gives the flavors a chance to really meld together.

Comfort food?

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I love the comfort foods of winter, mac and cheese, polenta, anything over mashed potatoes. They are warm and satisfying. These kinds of foods just seem to help me to deal with the cold dark winter days. By the end of February, as much as I love those carb packed foods, I find myself a in need of something fresh and green. I crave something in a color scheme other than shades of beige. A good salad, perhaps. So when I saw that the theme for "Waiter there's something in my..." was salad, I knew it was just what I needed. The event is hosted this month by Andrew over at Spittoon Extra. He suggested that if possible everyone should use local, seasonal, organic ingredients. Not possible for many I'm sure, but I'm lucky to have access to wonderful fresh organic lettuce nearly year round. My parents grow the most delicious, buttery organic butter head lettuce as well as other varieties in their hydroponic greenhouse at Waterberry Farm. We're spoiled I know.
I had some blood oranges that I had picked up at the market a few days ago and wanted to use.
So I made Blood Orange Salad with Orange Poppy Seed Vinaigrette.
I tore the salad leaves of one head of the butter lettuce by hand. The butter head lettuce is so tender that cutting it with a knife tends to bruise it. I segmented one blood orange and added thin slices of red onion and some kalamata olives.

For the Vinaigrette:
3 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/4 cup to 1/2 cup good quality olive oil
juice from one small blood orange
about 2 teaspoons honey
pinch of salt
fresh ground pepper to taste
whisk all the ingredients together in a small bowl starting with 1/4 cup of olive oil. Drizzle in more olive oil if needed to bring the dressing together.

Today was rainy and cold but this salad was like sunshine on a plate. Maybe not quite comfort food, but the colorful salad helped lift my spirits on this cold cloudy day!